


A Lot Can Change (But Not Everything Does)

by NicktheMoon



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Gen, Pre-Relationship, Reunions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicktheMoon/pseuds/NicktheMoon
Summary: Five years after meeting in Brawl, Lucas and Red reunite at the Ultimate tournament. It's a long time to not see someone, especially since puberty happened during those years for both boys.





	1. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's arriving for the next Smash Tournament, and there's someone Lucas is waiting to see.

It'd been five years since Lucas had seen Red. Their first Smash tournament had introduced them to each other in a brief, formal sort of way, but it was the Subspace Incident where they had truly bonded, learning about what the other was capable of and facing the subspace army and Tabuu side by side. There had been another tournament that Lucas had been invited to, admittedly late (the letter said it was the pigeon's first day on the job to explain the delay, but when he arrived Ness confided that fans had called for his and Mewtwo's return), but Pokemon Trainer hadn't been there. Only Charizard had been invited that year and, while the dragon-like Pokemon had thoroughly enjoyed battling by itself, Lucas was disappointed that he hadn't been able to see Red. 

After all, a lot could change in just a few years. And Lucas was keen to see how Red was, if there were other Pokemon he'd seen and could show him, or changes to his own Pokemon and how they grew. And how Red himself might have changed. It was difficult to receive letters across worlds; the Smash tournament was unique in that it's location was well connected to many worlds, making it ideal for the meeting of many heroes, villains and fighters looking to enjoy a brawl and battle in combative and strictly non-lethal competition. But it meant that a letter sent from one world often had to travel to this place and then onward to it's destination, which took a lot of time and effort. The last letter Lucas had received from Red had been a year or two ago, mentioning that he was intending to travel to a set of tropical islands with his rival, to see new Pokemon and battle with new people.

People had been coming into the Smash village for several days. Lucas hadn't been the first to arrive; that honour had gone to the 'original twelve', the fighters who were invited to the first tournament and every tournament since the beginning of Smash. But there were only a few left to arrive now, the people who had only been invited once or twice, and the newcomers. Lucas couldn't help fiddling with his jacket. Would Red even recognise him? He'd been thirteen when they had met and hadn't yet hit puberty, being a late bloomer according to his Dad and Duster. Now he was eighteen and had finally had his growth spurt, ultimately being a little shorter than his Dad but certainly not as short as he had been. He'd changed up his clothes, settling on a different look than his childhood striped tees and shorts. The orange hoodie with yellow hems and pouch pocket was a similar style to Kumatora's dress, although he hadn't realised until they had met up and compared them. He also hadn't realised that the shoes he'd taken to wearing were kind of like Duster's either, having chosen them because they seemed sturdy and reliable (the green cargo pants had been picked for similar reasons and so he could carry more stuff if need be). He was at least knowingly trying to grow out his facial hair - both Dad and Duster has some and looked cool with it, but he could only manage some faint stubble on his upper lip and chin so far. 

And would he even recognise Red? They had never traded pictures through their rare letters, and while he remembered how Red had looked, he'd probably changed through puberty too and would be wearing something different than the jeans, red vest and black tee he had met him in. Although... would he have kept the hat? It was difficult to imagine him not wearing it for some reason. Lucas sighed and folded his arms on his knees. He should have brought out his keytar so he had something to do instead of daydreaming and wondering and waiting. A little bit of pondering and staring over the nearby gardens and Lucas realised there was no way he would miss Red's approach, as he heard a distant roar. Charizard refused to arrive discreetly. Even if he didn't immediately recognise the trainer there would be mistaking the Pokemon as several others now approached from the village. Hearing Charizard's roar, they also eager to greet old friends. Pikachu, followed by his young protege Pichu, dashed out to stand beside Lucas, jumping up and squeaking out to answer Charizard. Behind them several of the other Pokemon fighters gathered to see what the fuss was about. Lucas smiled to the Pokemon - he got along well with nearly all of the Pokemon here at Smash - but his attention stayed on the path.

In moments Charizard appeared, flying overhead with it's flame tail burning like a shooting star behind him. He wheeled above them, roaring joyously before crashing down, drawing himself up proudly and flaring out his wings. Pikachu and Pichu immediately ran up to him, Pichu jumping up to climb all over Charizard while Pikachu began to talk with him in eager squeaks. A Squirtle shell appeared next, propelling itself along with bursts of water and leaving puddles in it's wake. The Squirtle bumped into the back of Charizard, who turned and snapped his jaws at him in a grumpy sort of way. To which Squirtle just gave his teammate a sheepish grin and hurried back the way he came, presumably to try and encourage Red to hurry. Finally, walking alongside a patiently stomping Ivysaur, was Red himself. He was laden with some traveling bags and clearly tired from the journey, but still walking the path on foot with his Pokemon for company.

He hadn't actually changed much, not in terms of fashion. The vest was gone, due to having been in a hot climate judging by the soft tan, but he was still in jeans, sneakers, a tee with a red graphic on the front and, of course, his cap. It didn't look like he had changed his hair or try to grow any on his face. But there were some changes, the kind that were hard to describe in full detail. His jaw seemed harder, his posture somehow more determined and confident despite Lucas remembering him as being determined and confident to begin with. Maybe it was experience along with the five years of physical growth that made Red seem more mature and different to when Lucas had last seen him. As Red drew near he waved, a smiling brightening his usually serious features. Lucas waved back, grinning. Red paused when he saw Lucas, eyes widening. Ivysaur nudged the back of his head with his head, to remind his trainer to keep walking. 

"Hey Red! It's been a while." Squirtle noticed Lucas when he spoke, rushing over to greet him. He knelt down to pet the tiny turtle's head, standing as Red drew near. it struck him then that Red was still just a bit taller than him, his eyes just about level with his old friend's chin. He quickly looked up to meet his eyes, catching his smile. Red was never very vocal; he would talk often to his Pokemon but around other people, he didn't say much. Lucas had learned it was mostly just due to Red being extremely quiet by nature and finding it easier to talk to the non-human partners he lived alongside everyday. Still, he was blessed with Red putting a firm hand on his shoulder and murmuring a few select, yet genuinely warm words. His voice was still a little rough, but it was deeper and it suited him. In Lucas' opinion anyway.  
"Thanks for waiting for me."

Lucas tried not to focus too much on the hand on his shoulder as they turned and began to walk inside together. Lucas decided to talk about the tournament, rather than immediately begin with more personal topics. Those could wait until they were somewhere more private, for Red's comfort. While things had changed in the Smash Village, the people in charge had gone out of their way to try and make things as comfortable for returning fighters as possible, giving them the same accommodations they had before. For Red, that meant a humble but uniquely fitted house to suit both him and his three Pokemon with a generous pond for Squirtle to enjoy, a fragrant garden for Ivysaur to laze in and a roof built to match Charizard's needs. The Pokemon rushed to their territories, making themselves at home and rearranging little details to their liking. Lucas paused. Red probably wanted to settle in, to get comfortable and unpacked before socialising. So it was a surprise when Red invited him inside, pointing him to the living area as he headed to the bedroom to drop off his traveling bags.

Lucas had been here before, albeit many years ago now. It had been cleaned and prepared for Red's arrival though so it was almost exactly the same as he remembered it. A bit wider and more open planned than some of the other residences, so that Red's Pokemon could easily join him inside the house whenever they wanted. Given Red's lifestyle it wasn't overly luxurious or cluttered with junk, with only a few trinkets and important items on display from his roaming across the vast world he came from, such as gleaming sets of gym badges and photos of Red with various Pokemon he had befriended or caught. Lucas quickly pinpointed Red's favourite (he knew it was the favourite because Red had told him so himself); a landscape picture of Red with the Pokemon he considered his dearest friends and teammates. Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard were there naturally, along with a Pikachu that sat on his shoulder, a massive, round Pokemon that seemed to be asleep when the picture was taken, a long necked, blue Pokemon with a hard shell on it's back that was floating in a nearby lake or pool, and a sleek, purple cat-like creature with a forked tail and a glittering red gem on it's forehead. He could vaguely remember their names. Maybe.

Lucas turned as Red came into the room. It was impossible to miss how Red sagged into a chair with a weary sigh, practically melting into it. Lucas crossed over and sat in a chair next to him.  
"You sure you're not really tired?"  
"I am tired. But I want to catch up with you." Red acquiesced. And he did look comfortable, relaxing and turning to face Lucas in his seat. "Has much changed for you, here?"  
"A bit. I've brought Kumatora and Boney. They're not here to compete, but they're here as 'Smash Assistants'. Nobody would stand a chance against Kumatora, and Boney's happier with helping out." Lucas explained. Red nodded, clearly recalling and matching the names to stories Lucas had told him previously.  
"So like an Assist Trophy, but they only help you?"  
"Kinda. They come in when I have my final smash ready. It actually feels a lot better with them there to help."  
"Do they use a power to help you be stronger, like Helping Hand?" The reference flew over Lucas' head and he waved a hand in a 'sort-of' gesture.  
"Kumatora taught me how to use Starstorm. So we sort of use it together. And Boney helps me concentrate when I'm using it."  
"So a bit like a Triple Finish. A Triple Starstorm!" It was always easier to equate things to terms they were familiar with from home - everybody did that. So Lucas simply nodded with an easy smile.  
"Yeah. Have you brought anyone new with you?"  
"I have actually..."  
So the pair talked well into the afternoon. Red talked about Leaf being invited alongside him, although she was due to arrive the next day, about the islands of Alola and the Battle Tree, a gauntlet for the greatest of trainers. In turn Lucas talked more about how things were for him at home, what he got up to with Kumatora, Duster and Boney, and about the news around the Smash village regarding newcomers and changes to the tournament. 

They could've sat and talked well into the night, had Lucas not noticed that Red looked ready to fall asleep as he got increasingly comfortable in his chair, eyes taking longer and longer to open when he blinked. Lucas stood and excused himself.  
"I should go make sure I've got everything for dinner. Once you're settled in, you should come over sometime. I can make omelets for us." Before he left, Red stood and followed him to the door. He reached out without thinking, catching Lucas' hand before the other boy could vanish down the path.  
"I'd really like to come over. Would the day after tomorrow be alright?" His cheeks flushed as he spoke. Lucas quickly nodded, feeling his own cheeks grow warm. Red squeezed his hand and gave it one shake before letting go, giving a short wave after him as he left. Behind Lucas, Squirtle sidled up beside Red. Red glanced down at his Pokemon, who waggled it's eyebrows at him and pointed after Lucas, with a knowing grin. Red flushed brightly and quickly turned back inside, ignoring Squirtle's playful laughter as he was followed him in. If he wasn't so tired, he'd had some words for his Pokemon... but as it was, he was going to walk straight to bed and sleep. And try to put aside his continued amazement at how good the past five years have been to Lucas' looks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came about entirely due to @Kyleenim's art of Lucas and Pokemon Trainer on twitter, particularity [this tweet](https://twitter.com/kyleenim/status/1086008954730303488) of them meeting after several years apart (I recommend checking out all of her art because it's lovely, so do it). Admittedly I took inspiration for Lucas' 'grown up' design from a different artist while doing research ([this picture specifically!](http://sopranofff.jugem.jp/?eid=93)) and added a touch of my own - I totally believe Lucas would try to grow some face scruff. 
> 
> It's based on some different ideas regarding Smash Bros and how the universe would work, which I might expand upon if people are interested!


	2. Faces New & Familar, Young & Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas catches up with some other friends and considers the passage of time.

The Smash tournament was an exceedingly strange place. It's place in the multiverse was somewhere that connected to all other worlds, but it's relation with time was the most bizarre thing about it. While time flowed in typical fashion in most worlds (time travel shenanigans excluded), the Smash world took the idea of time as more of a suggestion than an iron rule. Lucas knew that he received his first invite to this place when he was thirteen, after the world had been reborn. The second had come three years later when he was sixteen and now, as he was eighteen. But some of the other fighters didn't seem to have aged at all since he had joined, and others had aged faster than he had. Each fighter had their own theory on the 'Smash Time Relativity Question' but there were no concrete answers. The best suggestion came from Snake; that while fighters might be invited as soon as they showed potential, once they had reached the peak of their abilities the world would simply pluck them from that time frame for future contests. But there were flaws in the theory, so it remained only a possible explanation.

As it stood Lucas was glad he and Red seemed to have aged at the same rate. It hadn't crossed his mind at the time but it would have felt strange if he had grown up and Red had stayed a twelve year old. Some fighters didn't seem to age at all and it didn't seem strange for some reason, such as the Ice Climbers. They had remained the same since their first appearance and Nana and Popo didn't keep a strict sense of time in their home, simply filling their time with scaling frozen mountains and appearing at the Smash tournaments when invited, so there was no telling how frequently they received their invites compared to the others. Similarly the residents of Dreamland, Kirby, Meta Knight and King Dedede, had all remained the same, but weirdly they claimed it had been longer between their invites to each tournament. Lucas wondered if that meant they aged very slowly or were actually immortal, but it seemed even they didn't know the answer.

So Lucas spent his first week before training began in earnest to catch up with various friends and to meet new ones. Meta Knight still hadn't changed, and neither had Rosalina. The Ice Climbers seemed a little older from when he'd last seen them - they hadn't been at the last tournament for mysterious reasons but Lucas was glad to see them here. He met several new fighters too such as the Inklings, a collection of half-human, half-squid kids, who found everyone extremely interesting and seemed to have a lot of opinions regarding fashion. Several had been curious about what Lucas wore and one even asked about his hair, but he had noticed that all of them loved music too. He saw Wario and glared at him as they passed, to which Wario laughed and purposefully farted. Gross. 

The last person he found was among the most elusive; Mewtwo. He had met Mewtwo when they had been late-comers to the previous tournament but it wasn't until they faced off against each other that he really became known to the Pokemon. Mewtwo prided himself on his immense psychic strength and was constantly seeking a worthy fight. Lucas hadn't won their first match but he hadn't gone down easily and, upon realising Lucas' powers, Mewtwo had taken an interest in him as he had done before with Ness. They didn't always agree - Mewtwo was ruthless, only saw worth in people's abilities in battle, and held long grudges against those who brought up his past against him. But Lucas could sympathise with why he thought like that, even if he never agreed with it.

He sat with Mewtwo, getting comfortable as they overlooked the nearby training grounds. Lucas always suspected that Mewtwo's home being near the arena was no coincidence and Mewtwo had commented that he would watch the others practice to study their moves and look for weaknesses. Lucas felt he may have just enjoyed watching the fighting, even when he wasn't competing.   
"Your appearance is different, but you have not changed much." Mewtwo always spoke with telepathy. His was powerful enough to communicate like a voice, projected into the minds of anyone nearby him. Lucas could use a little telepathy and Mewtwo had insisted he practice it, so he was using it now. Although Lucas had to choose who he was talking to and focus on sending the words to them specifically - he couldn't address a group the way Mewtwo did with a single thought.  
"I guess not. Have things changed much for you?"  
"Trainers find me, challenge me and lose. Than I move on."  
"You never thought about staying here?" Lucas asked, watching as Pikachu confidently strode onto the battlefield and began to stretch before practicing it's moves.

Pikachu was, apparently, a unique exception to the other Pokemon fighters. He wasn't the original Pikachu to have joined the tournament - that Pikachu had opted to leave and return to the Pokemon world before Lucas had arrived. The current and long standing Pikachu of the tournament was one specifically bred for the purpose and brought to this world as an egg. After hatching he trained in the art of Smash-style fighting, never learning how to battle as a Pokemon traditionally would. As such he refused to return to the Pokemon world, not really seeing it as his home and preferring to live in the Smash village and the surrounding land permanently. And it looked as if history was going to repeat itself; an egg had arrived for this tournament, explicitly labelled as a Pichu (a baby Pikachu) egg. Given Mewtwo's disdain for trainers, it surprised Lucas that he didn't stay here with Pikachu.  
"If I were to remain here, my abilities in traditional Pokemon battle would suffer. To excel in both, I must engage in both." Mewtwo reasoned. He floated to a standing position, eyes on Pikachu. Sensing that their time was coming to an end, Lucas stood as well and nodded to Mewtwo.  
"Have fun practicing. Will you be coming by the mess hall later?" Lucas spoke aloud mostly so Pikachu would hear him and not be alarmed by a sudden attack. Mewtwo just 'hmph'd before teleporting to the training grounds, meeting a very eager Pikachu.

Lucas left them to it, following the winding path through the village and passing the mess hall. While everyone had a small kitchenette in their homes, the mess hall was a communal area so people could eat with friends or pick up food from other worlds they had yet to try. Given Mewtwo was very anti-social, Lucas had never seen him there. But it was where he had been catching up with people, since it had plenty of seats and next to the grassy park they had - fights outside of the assigned battlefields was strictly forbidden so the area was save from destruction. And he had to past by it to reach his own home on the other side. He had planted a few flowers there when he'd first arrived, then added to it each time he came back. Now he had a flourishing garden, full of the flowers he'd known from home, and some exotic plants given to him by others from their worlds. 

Looking over the flowers, he noticed that the bushes given to him by Red were now bearing fruit. Small pink bananas, tiny red cherries, bulbous yellow fruits, plump peaches, blue strawberries... all growing on bushes that differed in leaf colour, size and shape. They all looked similar to fruits Lucas knew and loved but just different enough to be distinctly exotic. He'd need to harvest some so he could share them with Red and see if they had the right taste and quality. He hadn't actually seen Red since he'd arrived. While they had arranged to meet up before parting, they'd both ended up being extremely busy; catching up with old friends, meeting newcomers, warming up before practice began in earnest and showing friends from home around the place. For Lucas that had been showing Kumatora and Boney around and introducing her to some of his friends (which went about as well as expected given Kumatora's sass), while Red had been showing Leaf the facilities and helping her and her Pokemon get settled in. 

Stopping to pet Boney, who was snoozing in his doghouse next to the front door, Lucas resolved to find Red at the mess hall during dinner or to visit his house to see him again. He kind of wanted to see Red train too... he remembered how animated and involved Red was in battle, directing his Pokemon as if he could feel what they felt in the fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is almost entirely just to establish how time works and to have Lucas hang out with some friends. I do apologise for it being kind of dull, but I felt it was best to semi-explain it now than have to fumble about with it later.
> 
> I do have a full list of how I see the characters aging/how much they age/who's essentially immortal and not every character is going to appear in this fic, so if enough people demand it I can find somewhere to post that up for the curious. Or you can just draw your own conclusions c:


End file.
